Hiring Tips for a Startup: Building an Effective Team
Successful startups can grow rapidly. In making the transition from startup to growth-stage company, there’s bound to be hiring in all areas of the company. When an idea catches on, it may be required to bring on new staff as quickly as possible. Take a look at these five tips from Forbes that will help a startup or growing company. They can weigh the need for speed with the long-term goal of building a solid, mission-driven foundation for the company:
Each Hire Has a Big Effect at an Early-Stage Startup
In a startup’s first hires, they may concentrate on finding people with positive attitudes. The people demonstrate a real desire to be part of your mission. However, a founder cannot spend an inordinate amount of time and lose a chance at worthwhile candidates.
A startup may begin with five or six employees. Hiring the wrong person can cause a real impediment to the business and the morale of the staff. Make certain you have the pick by conducting multiple interviews, checking references thoroughly, and giving applicants take-home work samples to complete.
Issuing a Take-Home Test Can Reveal How People Really Think
When a startup has winnowed the applicant pool to a few final candidates, it’s critical that they all talk to multiple people on the team. These interviews can help to quickly determine if an individual is qualified for the job. Moreover, we can see how a candidate thinks in their performance on a take-home assessment. The take-home test can be a personality test or a work sample.

Your Candidate Hiring Pool Includes Your Existing Staff
Most business owners who are given the choice would rather promote from within. This is based on an employee’s performance and now their tenure with the company. It takes time to truly see someone’s performance. But when an owner sees that an individual is bringing value to the team and is ready to take on greater responsibility, be proactive about making sure that you retain them.
Hiring Includes Trusting Your Leaders to Make Good Hires
When looking for a manager, you want to hire an expert in their particular field. Thus, a startup business can leverage that knowledge and experience. They can determine who they should hire next to support them in their work. With the right leaders in place in each area of the business, you can reach an inflection point. The business can then grow more quickly.
Don’t Be Afraid of Hiring Those More Experienced Than You
Baseball player Derek Jeter said, “Surround yourself with good people. People who are going to be honest with you and look out for your best interests.”
Startup founders must eliminate their egos and pride from the calculation when they hire people with more experience in their fields than they do as the CEO. When a startup brings on more highly-qualified people, it’s less likely that the founder will be the smartest or most knowledgeable person in the room. That’s the way it should be. The founder may know more about the history of the company and the product, but the team should have a more in-depth understanding about how to do their specific jobs.
As startup team grows, the founder will have less face time with each individual employee, but should collaborate with people one-on-one as much as possible. When time permits manage by wandering around. This is when managers spend part of their time listening to problems and ideas of their employees in candid informal conversations staff while simply wandering around the office.
Conclusion
Hiring new people is an exciting part of building up a startup; however, it’s also it can be time-consuming and stressful. Consider these tips and develop a rigorous hiring process to help you make certain that the foundation of your company is sound. As a result, as you continue to grow, hiring will be a smoother process, and the great people you have hired will be able to concentrate on growing the business.